


The Odd Among Us

by Malind



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Bullying, F/M, Fights, Friendship/Love, Gen, Injury, POV First Person, Self-Insert, Slow Burn, Swearing, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-23 12:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10719270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malind/pseuds/Malind
Summary: He shouldn't have been with us, but he was.  And, eventually, he became my friend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I read a self-insert with Sephiroth today. It was cute. (This isn't.) And I was like, 'Whatever, screw the world and common sense and morality and self-respect, I'm doing one.' Tags and rating are subject to change.

The tray got turned over with one great slam that filled the cafeteria.  And then the tray was lifted back up, leaving a mess of vaguely steaming food, including a filet of fish with a couple chunks missing, a mix of vegetables, and something that was probably vanilla pudding but could have also been tapioca.  We had a choice of both that day.  One of the shortly cut green beans landed on my hand.  I shook it off and looked back at the gathered group and at Sephiroth, wondering again why he'd sat at our table out of all of them in the large room.

"I want to see you eat it off the table, asshole."

Another cadet laughed through a tight throat, only looking at Sephiroth with darting eyes. I think his name was Alex or Axel or something.  "He's never going to fight you."

"If he doesn't, he going to end up with his face in that food.  Sammy isn't getting off that bed for a month.  I think this guy's face can be down in that shit for at least that long."

Everyone knew about Sammy.  Everyone.  And that's what made me wonder why Sephiroth was still with us and not kicked out of the program or in detention. Or just removed by his apparent handlers.

Two days before, it'd been a usual day in the yard.  Everyone was already put into groups. I was with three other girls and a couple of guys.  That day, the only thing that had honestly been any different was the fact that they'd brought... 

Well, at the time, I didn't know who he was.  And I sure as hell don't know _what_ he was. But when I saw him there, almost dragging his feet as the scientist pulled him forward by the arm, I couldn't help but be reminded of a dog about to be punished and knowing it.

He didn't look any older than us, but probably a bit younger.  Thirteen maybe.  Fifteen at very most.  But he was dressed like the rest of us, in a standard cadet uniform.  But what was so striking about him was his obvious albinism.  The boy was pale.  Too pale.  His hair was long, far longer than mine had been and well past his waist, and white.  But, then again, his eyelashes were black.  Don't albinos usually have white lashes?  Well, maybe he wasn't an albino.  But he was pale and white pretty much all over with what the cadet uniform revealed.  Maybe he just didn't get outside much and had an abnormal gene or two in him.

Okay, okay.  Maybe a lot more than two.  Because, after a brief discussion between the yard master and the scientist, the boy was handed a long practice sword.  What happened next...  I swear that boy wasn't human. 

Sure, I'd seen SOLDIERS in action.  Everyone here had.  And if they hadn't, then why the hell were they trying to be a SOLDIER? 

But this boy, the speed he moved with, the technique, the absolute confidence, all without his breath harshening as ours had during our exercises.  It was as if he was a machine.  Standing there, awestruck, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd done the big reveal and removed his face to prove that he was indeed a robot underneath. 

Sometimes, remembering those moments, I still question whether or not he had been one. But I know better now.  A machine couldn't have been so utterly miserable. Nor could it have loved so much.

Back then though, well, needless to say, everyone had stopped and stared.  Even the yard master.  I think, well, I know now that Sephiroth wasn't trying to impress us.  He never once looked at us, his whole being apparently in his own head. His skills...  They cut the air and moved as quickly as air. He was air, but air that could kill if it wanted to. He was just that good.  And I think it scared people.  It scared me.  But I couldn't take my widened eyes away either.

It was like...  the god of war had come down among us.  However reluctantly. And could have squashed us insects had he bothered to notice us.

A couple of minutes later I noticed our group leader yelling at us to get back to training. I don't have a clue how long he'd been yelling. Before I turned away, I saw the yard master directing Sephiroth to a group across the yard.  I turned back and started sparing again, clumsily, with my partner. And within a minute, I heard a crack, then shouts mixed with screaming.  When I whipped back around, whapping Natalie in arm with my training sword by accident, I saw a boy on the ground, obviously unconscious, his body splayed abnormally as if he hadn't moved an inch when he'd hit the ground.  His arm looked turned the wrong way. And I think I saw blood pooling on the dusty ground around his head.

And I saw Sephiroth backing up, slowly, his splintered sword just barely dangling from his hand.

Was I scared?  Hell, yes.  But part of that was because of the wide-eyed, open-mouthed horror on Sephiroth's face.  He hadn't meant to do it.  And I wanted to say that, to someone, anyone, but when I took a step forward, the scientist was already grabbing Sephiroth and dragging him away just as reluctantly as before.

Today in the cafeteria, well, I couldn't believe Sammy's friend had the balls to stand up to Sephiroth.  And they must have been huge. He was apparently the only one that dared.  But his hand also never raised to lay a hand on the younger white-haired boy.

"Do it!" Sammy's friend shouted out.

I jerked a gaze around, unbelieving that this was still happening and not being stopped dead in its tracks.  Not even the adults were moving from their spots.  Did they want this to happen?  But if they did, whose side were they on?

With a hand I swore was slightly trembling but with an expressionless face, Sephiroth picked up a small piece of broccoli and put it in his mouth.  His mouth barely chewed.

Sammy's friend loomed farther over, apparently embowered by this show of submissiveness.  "I said, with your fucking face!"

"My God, just leave him alone!" was out of my mouth before I could stop it.

The older boy jerked his head up to stare pure hatred at me.  "Shut up!"

But, what was worse, Sephiroth's eyes had met mine for this first time.  He stared at me, his brows slightly furrowed, his mouth open for shallow, trembling breaths that had nothing to do with exertion. Yeah, I don't know why I'd said it either.

Well, saying it was probably because a part of me just wanted Sephiroth to just not be here, to disappear.  I didn't think Sephiroth being here, unpunished and amongst people who had no chance against him, was fair either.  He shouldn't have been here.  The other part of me was remembering how I knew Sephiroth hadn't meant to hurt Sammy.

Besides, Sephiroth sure as hell didn't want to be here right now.  I could see that with the way he looked at me and his quick, uneven draw of breath through his nose.

And neither did I.  I think that was the first moment in the couple of months I'd been there that I truly wanted to go home to my parents.  Because nothing about this was right and my teenage brain couldn't deal with it.

And then, Sephiroth withdrew from the world, his eyes becoming vacant, his face expressionless again.  He turned his face back to the table, and to an absolutely quiet room, did indeed put his face to the table, picking up food with less than enthusiastic movements of his lips.  For a moment, I stared wide-eye, my mouth unable to make a sound outside of my heavy breaths, while he did it.  But I couldn't deal with it.  It was too much like how my brother got treated back at home when he'd done nothing wrong except exist and be odd.  Like I'd been treated myself. My greatest shame was that I'd never once lifted a hand to save him, too scared and quiet and weak and cowed, but he never hated me for it, not like I hated myself for it.

Without thinking, or perhaps thinking too much, I propelled myself off of my chair and shoved Sammy's friend hard in the chest, sending him backwards a few steps.  "Leave him the hell alone!"  I said it as much as for Sephiroth as for my own brother.

When the older boy came back at me, admittedly, I was out of my league.  This boy was one of the upper cadets and he'd clearly had far more training than I'd had.  Besides, fighting had never been my strong suit.  I was tested and positioned to be an engineer.  I was only doing military training because it was a requirement for the program.  Plus, I think all of Sammy's friends had already started Mako injections, so he was a hell of a lot stronger than me too.

He broke through my pathetic attempt at defense that was just an upswing of my arms, and punched me hard right in the gut. I was down, unable to breath.  I tried so fucking hard to breath, but every one I attempted never seemed to make it into my lungs.  I don't know what happened after, not with the tears running down my face from my agony.  But when I could catch my breath, I was being dragged out of the room by a couple of people and away from the shouts behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

The doctor walked through the door and directly towards my bed-on-wheels, one bed amongst about a dozen others in the large, long room that was partially occupied with other patients. I tried to sit up to face her with some dignity, but immediately halted. An agonized gasp escaped my throat at pain that threaded through my body in an instant before tightening to make my insides split apart. Good God, moving wasn’t worth it. In the least. And I no longer minded looking like an invalid even though I was supposed to be training to become inhuman. In fact, I collapsed back down the minimal distance, regretting even being alive.

Was this what being a self-proposed hero was supposed to felt like?

When she reached the side of my bed, her finger was still flicking over the tablet she held in her other hand, but when her feet stopped, she finally looked up at me again and smiled with some of her best bedside manner. “Well, Miss, I think you’ll be able to head back to the barracks, probably tomorrow. Your CT scan showed no internal bleeding, nothing significant, but you’re still going to have considerable pain and bruising for a good week or two. And probably a few other joys to go along with it. I’m placing you on required bed rest for the next 24 hours. I’ve already messaged your squad leader about it. Of course, only time will tell if that’s enough, but we’ll discuss it further tomorrow.”

I nodded, but the simple motion sent my head spinning. I clenched my eyes shut.  The doctor didn't seem to notice as she shifted my gown up a bit, since I hadn't bothered to pull it down last time, and examined my stomach with gentle presses. I flinched or grunted or both at every one. I swear doctors are sadists.

While she did her poking and prodding, she said, “We’ll keep you tonight for observation since you have a concussion.”

“I don’t even remember hitting my head,” I ground out after a gasp.

She gave me a soft hum and straightened, lowering my gown again and pulling the blanket at my waist up to my chest. “You probably hit it when you fell. Do you remember falling?”

“Kind of… I mostly just remember not being able to breath.”

She sighed and touched the side of my head tentatively, turning it so that she could see the goose-egg towards the back of my head. “Try not to get into any more fights, okay? Especially not with the cadets who are just a couple of weeks away from being SOLDIERs. You could have been significantly injured.”

Yeah, everyone kept telling me that. I was pretty tired of hearing how lucky I was. I blew out a shallow breath and asked the question I’d been wanting to ask for a while, the one that had kept fleeing my mind whenever I’d had the chance but now popped into my head again: “Am I in trouble for it?”

“For fighting? If you’re going to be placed on probation or anything, well, that remains to be seen. You’ll have to speak with your squad leader about that.”

I nodded with my eyes closed.  The darkness created by those lids... Suddenly I felt so tired again.

Her soft hand touched my forehead. “Go ahead and sleep if you want. It’s good for you and will help you recover.” Her hand lifted away. “If you experience anything new, and I mean anything, like swelling, more or a different kind of pain, you need to inform your nurse immediately and she’ll find me or the doctor on call. Okay?”

I nodded again, feeling my mind drifting.

“And, sweetheart... I was told what you did. I know what you were trying to do. I understand, but...  But stay away from him. From Sephiroth. It’s not safe.”

Sephiroth not safe? I could believe that. But, for some reason, probably because of the look in the boy's eyes that just screamed, I also couldn’t.

“I don’t know what they’re thinking putting him with cadets. You have no idea...”

Oh, I had some ideas…

Whether or not she said anything more, I don’t know. Lost in my own mind, I fell asleep remembering inhuman cat-like eyes staring at me under a furrowed silver brow. Those eyes… Were they unsafe? Honestly, I really didn’t know… Maybe…  Probably...  Maybe not...

When I woke up, or at least remembered waking up, it was the next day, early morning.  I could tell that by the sunlight coming through the lightly curtained window at the far wall, the heavy ones being drawn to the sides.  And I can tell you, when I moved, I truly believe I felt worse.  But, this time, it was a different kind of pain, not so much a spiking pain.  It was...  well, overall agony.  I swear I was bruised from my thighs to my throat.  And my head wasn't helping.

I gave up moving the few millimeters I'd dared to move and just stared up at the ceiling.  I knew it was partially just stiffening from sleeping for so long.  But that wasn't going to make me move. 

But, a good hour later, when a breakfast was brought to me, hidden under a cover.  A minute later, I managed to get myself upright, seating myself to eat whatever surely ultra-yummy things were hidden on that plate, knowing hospital food.  Before I lifted the cover, I took a quick look around the room, noticing that a couple of beds had been vacated and neatly remade. 

When my eyes swept over the glass wall that held the door to the room, my eyes stopped. And my jaw popped open.  And my heart rate picked up.  And yeah, my breathing probably did too.

Staring at me was a boy who looked so unbelievably innocent with his blank face. Small even, compared to the adults roaming the halls.  Even the cadet outfit looked a bit large, as it was folded up at the bottom of his legs and a bit loose overall, the belt probably being the only thing that held his pants up.  I mean, kids his age weren't allowed in the SOLDIER program.  You had to be at least 16.  Looking at him now, I was sure he was closer the 13 I'd originally suspected.

And his eyes...  When our eyes met, well, despite any innocence he appeared to have, his didn't flinch away.  Instead, he stared at me as if he'd been staring his own life.  And I found I couldn't pull my own eyes away, even though I wanted to.  Even though I never had been very good at keeping eye contact with people.  But I was sure if I looked away, he'd be gone, like a mirage.  I wasn't even truly sure he was actually there.  Maybe my knocked around head was playing tricks on me.

Then, his head suddenly turned to the side.  When it did, I noticed the footsteps too.  He took one last look at me and then took off in the opposite direction, long white hair whipping behind him.  It was like watching a ghost, a fast one.

And the reaction...  It reminded me again of how young he was. Me, personally, I was 16.  He, well, I didn't want to think how young he was because I suddenly felt even more protective of him than I had before when I'd gotten myself punched.  He was about the same age as my brother.  But...  my brother was nothing like him.  Nothing. 

My brother cried when he was picked on.  Buckets. And my brother wouldn't have dared to be where he obviously wasn't supposed to be.  And my brother was, well, still really innocent of the world, despite everything, perhaps because of everything.

This boy, Sephiroth...  I knew with everything in me that he was none of those things.  And I had no idea why.  I only knew him by name, beyond the fact that he'd apparently lived in the ShinRa building his whole life, never really leaving.  Actually, from what I'd learned before the punching incident, it was thought that he never left those walls.

I knew...  That no one really saw him as human, that he was just... something else, something no one really seemed to understand.

But I saw him as human, even if that humanity hid underneath his abnormalities.  I saw it because...  Well, because I wanted to see.  I wanted to understand.

Damn me and my curiosity...  It wouldn't have been the first time it'd made me do things I shouldn't have done. 

And this time, my damnable curiosity quested me to find out every single thing I could about the boy named Sephiroth.


End file.
